Case Number 20596: Small Claims Court

SECRETS OF THE DEAD: SLAVE SHIP MUTINY

The Charge

The only hope of escape was rebellion.

The Case

In 1766 a slave ship, the Meermin, left from Madagascar with a hold full of
human cargo. The final destination was Cape Town in South Africa. At that time
the city was controlled by the Dutch East India Company also known as the VOC.
Cape Town ran on slavery, both in its day to day operations, and as a source of
income. Once a ship reached Cape Town, any captured humans were destined for a
life of eternal servitude.

Through a series of bad decisions and poor planning by the Meermin crew, the
slaves rallied around a leader and courageously rebelled. Nearly half the crew
was killed and the rest were driven into the gun room. But that story is only
beginning. The slaves must decide how to return home. And the ship's crew has to
figure out a way to survive and still make a profit.

This episode of Secrets of the Dead follows a similar format as the
The Silver Pharaoh episode. It combines recreations, interviews with
researchers and archeologists, and location shooting in Cape Town to give
viewers an investigation into the events unfolding during the the summer of
1766.

What makes this especially interesting is that the VOC were meticulous in
their record keeping. Many details relating to the ship, the mutiny, and the
trials afterward were tracked; so the show has plenty to work with. This allows
this episode to move along at a great pace, and provides a good story as well as
a solid dose of history.

The presentation by PBS is decent. The widescreen format shows the beautiful
location shooting in South Africa, as well as some of the less stellar blue
screen work during the recreations. The Dolby 2.0 sound is adequate and clear.
Unfortunately there are no extras. It would be nice to hear more about the
marine archeologists efforts to find the sunken Meermin, but please see our
Accomplices section for a followup article.

I found this episode of Secrets of the Dead to be a bit more
compelling than the previous one, and can easily recommend it to any history
buffs out there.